Dennis Ritchie, best known as the creator of the C programming language and co-creator of the UNIX operating system, has died at the age of 70 after a long, unspecified, illness. News of his death came from past collaborator, Rob Pike, in a message on Google+ which read: “I trust there are people here who will appreciate the reach of his contributions and mourn his passing appropriately. He was a quiet and mostly private man, but he was also my friend, colleague, and collaborator, and the world has lost a truly great mind.”
http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Dennis-Ritchie-creator-of-C-and-more-has-died-1360480.html